When it comes to writing historical fiction and even poetry, it's the small details that help the past come alive in readers' minds. What would your characters have worn, what music would have thrilled them, what did they think of the events that they lived through? These details can be drawn from research, family stories, and even experiences such as historical reenacting. Join us as we share methods that the historically curious writer can use for crafting engaging stories and poems set in the past. You will also have an opportunity for a writing exercise to mine your own family history for details to spark a story or poem.
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Longtime ESWA member DAVID HEALEY spent 21 years as a reporter and editor for newspapers in the region. His first novel was published by an imprint of Penguin Putnam, and he has since written nearly 30 nonfiction books and novels that are often inspired by local legends and stories. A graduate of Washington College and the Stonecoast MFA program at the University of Southern Maine, he is a full-time faculty member in the Department of English and Rhetoric at Purdue University Global

PAT VALDATA is a novelist and poet. Her most recent novel, Eve’s Daughters, won first prize in the novel category from the Delaware Press Association and received an Honorable Mention from the National Federation of Press Women. Her other books are a historical novel, The Other Sister, which won a gold medal from the Hungarian Association’s Árpád Academy, and a coming-of-age novel about women pilots, Crosswind. Her book of poetry about women aviation pioneers, Where No Man Can Touch, won the Donald Justice Poetry Prize. A revised edition of the book was published in 2020 by Wind Canyon Books. Pat is a retired university professor (almost always an adjunct) who now lives in Crisfield, Maryland.